Lanka yet to tap ocean energy

Shirajiv Sirimane

Sri Lanka should look for alternative energy sources and wind and solar power are good options said visiting professor of the ICBT campus, Torsten Fransson.

Speaking to the 'Daily News Business' from the International College of Business and Technology (ICBT) in Bambalapitiya, he said countries in the gulf despite having oil at their disposal are successfully using solar power. "In Sri Lanka too solar power generation is used but not to its full potential," he said.

Professor Torsten Fransson

The initial cost may be high to switch on to this source of power. However the return on investment would be very high as there would no production cost in the future. "For a country like Sri Lanka solar power is ideal for rural power generation," he said. However rather than day-to-day use it would be a good option if a storage system is deployed which is a big investment.

Airing his views on the investments that have been made on coal power, he said for the moment coal power is economical. "However we do not know how the future is going to be," he said. "One must also think about the environmental constrains as well".

A Swedish national, Prof. Fransson said his country uses 50 percent of alternative energy in addition to hydro power. "Oil for power generation is only used for industries and by 2020 it would only be used for transport," he said. The country also uses 5 to 10 percent ethanol for transpiration. The Government encourages this by not stamping road tax for vehicles run on ethanol.

Another alternative power source, Sri Lanka has not looked at is ocean power. "The technology is to fix several moving buoys on the waves to a generator. Many countries are using this and this is an ideal opportunity for hotels to acquire this technology," he said. Hotels overseas are using ocean power as well as solar and most of them are self-sufficient with them.

In addition to wind power the authorities should also look at generating power through waste. This would be a good option for Provincial Councils. "Since there is a conflict 'nuclear' energy is not recommended for Sri Lanka immediately," he said.

He said with several alternative power generation options the world is using them successfully.

"This has also created high paying employment opportunities as most of the engineers are at the retiring age and some are not used to new technology," he said.

The ICBT Campus has identified this area and has introduced several courses targeting this sector. "Opportunities are available in the Gulf as well as in Europe and the certificate we offer is accepted in those countries and is a passport for a profession with monthly 'all provided' remittance in the excess of US dollars 1,000," said CEO cum Executive Director, ICBT, Mohan Pathirana.

Presently ICBT has four campuses in Sri Lanka, Colombo 4, Mount Lavinia, Kandy and Matara. The ICBT's Matara and Kandy campuses are the biggest regional private universities in Sri Lanka.

ICBT Campus has also launched their engineering programmes with Edexcel International UK in the fields of Electronic, Electrical, Mechanical and Civil Engineering. Students who follow these programmes can pursue their degrees at the Bradford University - UK.